Symposium Outcomes of "The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs: The Vision, Challenges, and the Development Project"
Affairs: The Vision, Challenges, and the Development Project,” in which the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Dr. Adel Al-Rikabi, hosted at Sergio de Mello's hall at RCD in May 14, 2020, and delivered a lecture.
The lecturer reviewed the ministry's tasks, projects, and the crucial obstacles that facing its work, indicating that it is one of the ancient ministries in the Iraqi state, which was established in 1939, it is currently sponsoring multiple segments of society that include several millions who are victims of wars and difficult situations that the country has gone through.
Conclusions:
1- The political problems and wars that Iraq went through during the past decades left behind difficult social and economic situations that made the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs responsible for caring millions of Iraqis, whether poor, people with special needs or full-time dependency.
2- The lack of clarity of the Iraqi economy’s identity and its dependence on royalty has made the generate employment opportunities a chronic crisis in Iraq.
3- disregard for the rules in force regarding the segment of workers, including laws guaranteeing retirement rights for workers in the private sector, prompting the search for employment in state departments.
4- The is no active private sector and no real investments that caused to add a burden to the unemployment rates that exist in the country.
5- The entry of foreign workers without a work visa authorized by the Ministry of Interior and their ongoing presence in Iraq after the end of their stay affects on the employment of job opportunities for the Iraqi worker, and there are projects in which the percentage of foreign workers exceeds the legal percentage authorized.
6- The Ministry of Labor sought to regulate the presence of foreign workers, especially in the oil companies operating in Iraq, and the ministry aims to reduce their numbers to be in accordance with the legal ratios.
7- The problems that exist among unions that represent workers caused to weaken their role, as many of these unions are characterized by looking for personal interests and not defending workers' rights.
8- The Disengagement Laws have affected some of joints of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Elderly care homes and nurseries have become dependent on aid and donations, which has made them in a difficult situation. Vocational training centers and occupational safety centers have also been negatively affected.
9- Among the activities of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is the launch of loans for projects, which are two types: loans in the amount of 8 million and it should be paid annually without interest, and loans for productive incubators amounting to 30 million, which are allocated to innovative projects.
10-Corruption is one of the scourges that eat away the Iraqi society, and the Ministry of Labor is affected by two types of corruption, the first corruption is in enforceing of laws that pertaining to work, and the second is corruption of the weak people who take advantage of social benefits, as one third of the recipients of subventions may be those who are not entitled to it.
11-The Ministry is in process of taking deterrent measures against those who get social aid while they are not entitled to it, especially among state employees, as the penalty for that will be impeach from the job.
12-The Ministry relied on investing its funds in order to increase funding, and among its successful projects is the poultry factory project in Diwaniyah.
Recommendations:
1- It is necessary to legislate laws related to the work sector in Iraq in order to guarantee work rights, however what is legislated from these laws must also be enforced, as this contributes to improving the reality of work and social security in Iraq.
2- The Ministry needs to get benefit from international and regional expertise, as the country’s circumstances did not allow it to get benefit from these experiences.
3- The ministry needs to develop its administrative cadres in a manner commensurate with the size of tasks it undertakes.
4- Cooperating with other ministries in the matter of foreign workers entry to Iraq, checking their visas and preventing them from staying after their visa has expired.
5- Deterrent mechanisms must be found to limit the mean-spirited people from exceeding social welfare entitlements, and this contributes to increasing the number of beneficiaries from families who are actually entitled to these funds.
6- The necessity of establishing real projects by young people who benefit from loans granted by the ministry and tryting not squandering money, which constitutes an additional burden on them when they are due to be paid.
